The Master of Science (MSc) in Sustainable Development, Management, and Policy (SDMP) graduate program challenges its students to consider a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with special attention given to their often complex interrelationships.  The MSc degree is a two-year, full-time program in which students learn skills needed to design and implement sustainable development strategies on the household, business, city, regional, and national levels.

Guided by expert faculty, students come to understand that effective implementation of sustainability strategies is a fundamental societal, economic, and environmental need.  MU’s prioritization of sustainability as an integral part of the University offers additional unique opportunities to students, including the invitation to participate in the University’s Sustainability Committee.  At MODUL University Vienna, the SDMP program is training a new generation of professionals who confidently will respond to future global sustainability challenges.

The MSc program in Sustainable Development, Management, and Policy (SDMP) invites students from diverse backgrounds to explore sustainability through a multidisciplinary lens. The  program strives to build a high level of expertise among its graduates for analyzing conditions and problems related to sustainability and for effective solution design.  The MSc curriculum is composed of a unique combination of theory and practical hands-on application, and SDMP students are provided with a solid multidisciplinary background that draws on material from fields including economics, governance, social psychology, environmental sciences, geography, and management.

Small class sizes provide the ideal environment for collaborative learning.  MSc students are challenged to examine a broad range of specific analytical topics and are given the opportunity to apply them in practical ways.  Topics include stakeholder-specific implementation; public, private, and third sector implications of sustainable development; policy and governance-related sustainability issues; environmental and sustainable management issues; and economic development issues.  Specifically, MSc students learn multiple tools of analysis, strategy design, implementation, evaluation at various levels of scale and governance, and organization management.

MSc students gain insight and confidence through lively classroom debates and simulations which help remove sustainability from symbolic frames, challenging students to link theory directly with practice.  SDMP graduates will be ready to adapt skills learned both in and out of the classroom to future career challenges of a particular location or organizational context.

The program’s multidisciplinary curriculum is composed of six unique modules, providing students with a comprehensive framework in research methods, management, and  field-specific content in economics, governance, social psychology, environmental sciences, and geography.

The program emphasizes the knowledge, capabilities, and attributes students need to become ethical, transformational leaders and agents of change.

By learning which sustainability strategies are likely to be effective under diverse, fluctuating conditions, MODUL University Vienna’s MSc graduates will be ready to address the globalization and sustainability challenges of this millennium.  The practice-driven program prepares graduates for scientific positions in a variety of public, non-profit, and private organizations.  SDMP alumni pursue positions as public policy analysts, CSR experts, environmental consultants, and administrators in a variety of environmental management areas.  In addition, the MSc degree prepares students for success in a subsequent  PhD program.

• Multidisciplinary context, unique curriculum, and customized research opportunities
• Emphasis on critical thinking, collaborative learning, and addressing 21st-century challenges
• Exposure to emerging eco-friendly conceptual tools and management skills
• Small class sizes taught by key experts
• Globally-oriented university environment with English as the lingua-franca
• Graduates ready to fill in-demand positions in a wide variety of public and private organizations

Students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds are welcome in MU’s Sustainable Development, Management, and Policy program.  Current SDMP students have backgrounds in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, IT, and business.  The MU admissions team counsels students from non-traditional backgrounds on what courses they might need to take in order to succeed in the MSc program.  Depending on their academic background, some incoming students may be required to complete up to two prerequisite courses in microeconomics and math.  Students with prerequisite requirements also have the opportunity to complete an exam and test out of requirement rather than sitting the course.

Overview of Core, Specialized, and Enrichment Courses offered within the program.

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